There were only three newreleases to chart this week; however, those three new releases all reach the top six. This includes a new number one film, The Wrestler, which should have strong legs thanks to amazing reviews.
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There were just a pair of newreleases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week. This includes the new number one DVD; however, sales of The Spirit were hardly impressive as it managed just 334,000 units and $6.27 million in sales.
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Japan was a major player on the international charts this past weekend, placing three films in the top 30, and helping a couple others as well. Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser placed first in its native market, and sixth internationally, with $6.00 million on 341 screens. More...

There were plenty of newreleases to chart this week, including the top two sellers. The new number one was Bedtime Stories 1.46 million units for its first full week of release, while including early sales it has made $28.78 million from 1.68 million in sales.
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Knowing was able to sneak into third place, despite earlier reports to the contrary. Over the past weekend it earned $13.35 million on 2943 screens in 24 markets for a total of $47.80 million. The film opened in a number of smaller markets, but most of the growth came from two major markets: Germany and Spain. In the former it made $1.47 million on 440 screens, while in the latter it made a more impressive $2.35 million on 330 screens over the weekend for a total of $3.11 million. As far as holdovers are concerned, the film held steady in France down just 16% to $3.06 million on 348 screens, but that was for the full week. After two weeks the film now has $6.72 million in that market.
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Slow week for newreleases with only four or five reaching the top five, depending on how you count Bedtime Stories. We did have a new number one, as Marley and Me sold 1.53 million units generating $28.32 million in sales.
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Marley & Me fell to sixth place, but it is nearing $100 million internationally. This past weekend it added $5.97 million on 2860 screens in 33 markets for a total of $83.34 million. The film opened in second place in Italy with $2.00 million on 348 screens, which is on par with expectations. Meanwhile, it added $1.23 million on 464 screens in the U.K. for a total of $18.41 million after four weeks while it made $1.01 million on 439 screens in Japan for a total of $5.17 million after two. It is still aiming at $100 million internationally, but it could be close.
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Slumdog Millionaire returned to first place on the international chart with $9.59 million on 3123 screens in 52 markets for a total of $170.31 million internationally and $309.86 million worldwide. The film opened in first place in China with $2.93 million on just over 400 screens, which is the best opening for a non-American foreign film for the past decade. It also showed no signs of declining in Germany, where it added $2.37 million on 270 screens during its second weekend, which was nearly identical to its opening, and it now has a total of $5.54 million.
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Coco opened in France and a couple other, smaller markets taking first place on the international chart with $12.71 million on 902 screens in 3 markets. This includes a first place opening in its native market, where it earned $11.20 million on 871 screens.
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Marley & Me jumped to the top of the international box office pulling in $14.14 million on 2559 screens in 29 markets for a total of $49.01 million. Its best market was the U.K. where it opened in first place with $6.15 million on 467 screens, while it placed second in Russia $1.58 million on 517 screens over the weekend for a total of $2.04 million. As far as holdovers go, the film managed $2.04 million on 550 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.72 million after two. Meanwhile in France, it earned $1.29 million on 354 screens over the weekend for a total of $4.11 million, also after two. The film opens in Spain this weekend, Japan next weekend, and Italy the weekend after that.
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Watchmen opened in top spot on the international charts, but with a weaker than expected figure. Much weaker in some markets. The film did top the charts in the U.K. with $4.52 million on 419 screens and in Australia with $2.29 million on 226, which is a great start for this time of year, but not a monster opening some were predicting. It placed first in Italy, but with a soft opening of $1.48 million on 344 screens, and the same was true in South Korea ($1.44 million on 397) and in Mexico ($722,000 on 417). The film had to settle for second place in Russia with $2.60 million on 554 screens and in France with $2.49 million on 517. Third was the best the movie could do in Germany ($2.03 million on 367 screens) and in Spain ($1.94 million on 426). Overall it did finish in first place with $26.63 million on 5,149 screens in 44 markets, but with only a couple of major markets left to open in, and the likelihood of massive drop-offs, this film will likely not match its domestic total, and might not top $100 million internationally. This is bad news for a movie that some have suggested cost $200 million to make, but that likely includes worldwide P&A, as well as the production budget. If it can make $300 million worldwide, then it will show a profit during its initial push on the home market. If it can make $200 million worldwide, then it will show a profit, eventually.
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The Very Best Film 2, the sequel to The Very Best Film opened in Russia and a handful of other markets this past weekend. It scored first place in its native land with $8.38 million on 948 screens, while it earned sixth place in total with $9.29 million on 1072 screens in 4 markets. This is a serious decline from its predecessor's opening weekend, but still a strong start otherwise.
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Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa fell from second to sixth with $9.07 million on 5601 screens in 48 markets for a total of $380.42 million. No openings hurt the film this past weekend, and its only $1 million markets this past weekend were South Korea at $1.20 million on 432 screens and Poland at $1.09 million on 130. The film has made $3.76 million after two weeks in the former and $7.72 million after three weeks in the latter.
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Australia reached a major milestone this past weekend as it topped $100 million internationally. Over the weekend the film added $12.33 million on 4901 screens in 55 markets for a total of $103.30 million internationally and $151.06 million worldwide. Additionally, with openings in Italy, Brazil, China, Russia, and Japan still ahead, the film has a shot at $200 million worldwide. That would be enough to cover the film's production budget, after taking into account Australia's generous tax incentives.
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Just like this weekend last year, the number one film was a limited release expanding wide. However, while that movie, and indeed practically every new release was a pleasant surprise, the holdovers fell faster than expected to leave the box office down 4.4% from last week at $146 million. That is still a whopping 13% more than the same weekend last year, and that gives 2009 an early 25% lead over 2008. The key word is "early." It is far too soon to tell if 2009 is going to finish ahead of 2008, while any expectations that it can maintain this pace are completely unreasonable.
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The Day the Earth Stood Still fell out of the top five, as it was down 46% to $10.91 million on 5008 screens in 42 markets for a total of $129.59 million internationally and $204.01 million worldwide. The film's best market was Japan, where it remained in second place with $2.71 million on 642 screens over the weekend for a total of $19.19 million after three.
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2009 hopes to build on last week's success and has three new releases and a wide expansion with which to do so. Bride Wars seems to be the odds on favorite to win, but don't count out Gran Torino. Also, both films have a shot at topping last year's number one film, The Bucket List.
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The first weekend of the year starts well with practically every film in the top five having at least something to cheer about. Overall the box office pulled in $153 million, which is 24% less than last weekend; however, it's a post-holiday weekend, so that decline is understandable. Compared to the first weekend of 2008, 2009 is off to a great start up just shy of 10% over last year. And more importantly, last year got off to a great start, so we are looking at a fantastic start.
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Marley & Me has taken the box office crown for a second straight weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
With no wide openers, the top seven movies have all remained in the same order they enjoyed last weekend, and overall performances were remarkably similar across the board.
Yes Man did best among the top five, down just 17%, while Slumdog Millionaire moved back into the top 10 and increased its box office by 10% while playing in basically the same number of theaters as it had over Christmas weekend.
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As is customary for the first weekend of the year, there are no new releases to deal with. However, there are plenty of high profile holdovers to entertain moviegoers, including several that at least have a shot at reaching $100 million before they leave theaters. In fact, every film in the top five has at least a shot at reaching that milestone.
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Revolutionary Road was nothing short of fantastic on the per theater chart earning a stunning $190,000 in just three theaters for an average of $63,304. Gran Torino saw both is theater count and per theater average grow earning more than $2 million in 84 theaters for a stunning average of $27,652; the film might not earn as many awards as some were expecting, but its box office potential is as high as ever. The Wrestler slipped to third place during is sophomore stint with an average of $21,529 in 18 theaters, but it too should earn some measure of mainstream success. Che continued its Oscar qualifying run with $35,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $17,252. Last Chance Harvey opened with nearly $100,000 in six theaters for an average of $16,210, which would have been very impressive though most of the year, but we've hit such a winning streak recently that is feels merely average. The overall box office leader, Marley & Me earned an average of $10,448, while Waltz with Bashir barely managed to enter the $10,000 club with an average of $10,004 in five theaters.
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Not every film lived up to expectations over the weekend, but more than enough did that we can safely say 2008 ended on a high note. Over the past three days, the box office pulled in $201 million, which was more than double last week's haul of $90 million. It was also close to 8% better than the same weekend last year, however, that's not enough for 2008 to recover, and it is still almost 1% behind last year's pace $9.55 billion to $9.63 billion. Ticket sales were off by more than 5%, which is the second worst decline in more than a decade. That said, nearly $10 billion in ticket sales is still huge, and as long as production budgets don't get out of hand, the industry is healthy.
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Fox emerged from the Christmas holiday weekend victorious thanks to an impressive opening by Marley & Me, which opened with an estimated $14.675 million on Christmas Day (an all-time record Christmas Day opening) and finished the weekend with $51.675 million, including $37 million over the three-day weekend Friday-Sunday.
Studio estimates gave second and third places to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Bedtime Stories, which both also broke the previous record for biggest Christmas Day opening.
Bedtime Stories finished the weekend with $38.6 million in total earnings and Button finished with $39 million.
The two movies traded second and third spots through the long weekend, and we'll only know which movie finished top once we have final numbers on Monday.
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There are almost as many wide releases this week as there were total release last week. However, while there are several effective sites, and none that feel sub-standard, none rise to the level of the Weekly Website Award.
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It's the beginning of the year, and as is costumary on the first weekend of each year, there are no new releases, which makes the process of choosing a target film a little more difficult. Also, we don't have box office information for Christmas day, so we are not exactly sure which film will top the charts this weekend, and therefore will likely top the charts next weekend. It should come down to either Bedtime Stories or Marley & Me. And our target film is ... (flips a coin) Marley & Me. In order to win, one must simply predict the upcoming weekend box office of Marley & Me.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's upcoming 3-day weekend box office (Friday, January 2nd to Sunday, January 4th), without going over, will win The Wackness on DVD and in paperback.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's upcoming 3-day weekend box office (Friday, January 2nd to Sunday, January 4th), without going under, will win Eagle EyeSpecial Edition DVD and Conspiracy on DVD
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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There are five films opening wide tomorrow, as well as a limited release expanding into more than 1000 theaters, which could be enough to propel it into the top ten. Given the weak new releases for the past few weeks, there is a chance all five wide releases will place in the top five, while it is unlikely any will bomb completely (even the two saddled with negative buzz). Compared to last Christmas, the box office could see some growth, which will help the year end on a positive note.
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We end the year with a winning streak, one that will hopefully continue right through the New Year holiday. It seems nearly every film released this month is either an Oscar contender or a potential $100 million hit. Sometimes both. If all six films with box office potentials of $100 million or more reach that milestone, and Bolt and Four Christmases have the legs to make it there as well, we could set the record for most $100 million released in a single year. (It is currently at 29 films set in 2003.)
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Starting today we will provide a list of announced movies, new stars and directors on our website each Tuesday.
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The shaded area represents the expected performance range for a film, based on its opening weekend box office. 95% of films fall within the shaded area. If a film trends towards the top end of the shaded area, it has good legs compared to the average film; if it trends towards the bottom end of the shaded area, it has poor legs. The predictive area is based on movies from the past 5 years.

Full financial estimates for this film, including domestic and international box office, video sales, video rentals, TV and ancillary revenue
are available through our research services. For more information, please contact us at research@the-numbers.com.